Coal City
Coal City is a subterranean city located under Scotland. Coal City is located fifteen hundred feet below the surface of the earth, in the centre of the New Aberfoyle caverns which extend for miles beneath the counties of Stirling, Dumbarton and Renfrew in central Scotland and contain rich veins of coal. The caverns are natural, although they have been extended by men, and stretch for more than forty miles from north to south, below Loch Katrine and the Caledonian Canal. In some areas the galleries reach beneath the sea and the sound of the waves can be heard above them. Coal City itself stands on the shores of the huge subterranean lake known as Loch Malcolm, in whose transparent waters swim shoals of eyeless fish. Ducks have been introduced and flourish, feeding on the abundant fish of the lake. The brick-built houses of the miners and their family rise on the banks of the loch, beneath the high dome of the great central cavern. Coal City is heated and lit by electricity. Electric lights hang from the vaulted roof and from the rock pillars and can be switched off to provide a so-called night; all the lights are completely enclosed to prevent a possible methan explosion. A chapel dedicated to St. Giles stands on a huge rock high above the loch. As well as being a highly productive mine, Coal City has become a major tourist attraction. It is reached via a sloping tunnel entered through a castellated entrance seven miles to the south of Callender. New Aberfoyle is ventilated by tunnels and airshafts, one of which emerges within the ruins of Dundonald Castle. The inhabitants of Coal City are more than happy to live in its even, calm climate and disparagingly refer to the outside world as “up there”, a realm of storms and bad weather. They take great pride in the sombre beauty of their underground realm and rarely venture to the surface. New Aberfoyle was discovered in the mid-nineteenth century, some ten years after the closure of the Dochart pit, whose coal reserves had become exhausted. One old miner refused to believe that more coal could not be found; he built an underground cottage for himself and his family in the depths of the old mine and for ten years explored the disused workings until he finally found faint traces of seeping methane, sure evidence of more coal. With the help of the former manager of the Dochart he broke through the rock walls and discovered the untapped wealth of New Aberfoyle. Within three years the underground community of Coal City was flourishing. But the development process did not go unopposed. Its main enemy was Silfax, the former fireman or monk of the Dochart pit, whose job it had been, swathed in damp garments, to set fire to small deposits of methane before they could build up and become dangerous. Silfax had remained underground after the closure of the Dochart, living in deep shafts known only to him, his sole companions his granddaughter and a great owl which used to go everywhere with him. SIlfax came to believe that the wealth of New Aberfoyle belonged to him, and he resisted all attempts made to enter the caverns, even after the settlement of Coal City Silfax’s most spectacular act of sabotage was to blast away the rocks supporting the basin of Loch Katrine. This had little effect on the underground town, merely raising the level of Loch Malcolm by a few feet. The effects on the surface were much more spectacular; the waters of Loch Katrine were diverted into the chasms and steam-boats were left stranded on the mud of the lake bed. After a failed attempt to cause a massive methane explosion, Silfax committed suicide by flinging himself into Loch Malcolm. His great owl can still be seen flitting around the remote outer edges of the central cavern. Coal City is so sprawling that it connects with Roman State, located under Hadrian's Wall, and the county of the Vril-ya, which is located beneath Newcastle. Category:Places Category:Pages